Below 1200 calories?

KristaIacobucci
KristaIacobucci Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
I just hired a personal trainer. My goal isn't as much about losing weight as losing body fat. I told him that, but he's determine to see me eating no more than 1200 calories a day so that I can lose a pound a week. I told him no. When I lost weight a few years ago (175 lbs down to 140 lbs), dieting that much would halt my weight loss. I told him I know my body and it needs at least 1500 to be properly fueled for this. He told me he's not a nutritionist, but his recommendation stands. I eat good foods that are filling and cut out as much processed stuff as possible. I also have a predisposition for binge eating that I also need to contend with.

Replies

  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
    Well, as he said, he's not a nutritionist. My cousin is in school to be a PT, in his nutrition class they recommend 1200 for women and 1800 for men regardless of stats. I wouldn't take the nutrition advice offered by a personal trainer unless they actually knew something about nutrition.

    Rigger
  • ashielauren
    ashielauren Posts: 17
    If you struggle with binge eating, it's probably best NOT to eat 1200 calories. If you eat too few calories for what you're burning through exercise and other daily activity, your body will be crying out for more food, which can lead to binges. Since you have experience eating more calories and losing weight, and that works for you, I would ignore your personal trainer's advice.
  • Muddy_Yogi
    Muddy_Yogi Posts: 1,459 Member
    Tell him you are NOT eating that low ... if that is unacceptable to him, Fire him and hire a new trainer. Worst.Advice.From.Trainer.EVER!
  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
    Well, as he said, he's not a nutritionist. My cousin is in school to be a PT, in his nutrition class they recommend 1200 for women and 1800 for men regardless of stats. I wouldn't take the nutrition advice offered by a personal trainer unless they actually knew something about nutrition.

    Rigger

    Seriously? WHY? Regardless of stats? That seems ridiculous!
  • lmr9
    lmr9 Posts: 628 Member
    I agree with you. 1200 is very low. Trust yourself and your instincts!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Tell him you are NOT eating that low ... if that is unacceptable to him, Fire him and hire a new trainer. Worst.Advice.From.Trainer.EVER!

    This..I'd like to see someone tell me I could only eat 1200 calories...
  • CaitlinW19
    CaitlinW19 Posts: 431 Member
    Well, he is calling a recomendation...not a rule. So he can make recomendations about your diet all day, but you dont have to take them. Doesn't mean he still won't think you should, but so what?
  • ilovesparkle
    ilovesparkle Posts: 127 Member
    Technically the body can't function properly under 1200 calories for a woman.

    That being said, at 187 pounds, if I eat any more than 1200, I don't lose. I've tried every combination of calories out there and it doesn't work.

    I would disregard his advice and at least put away 1200 calories each day. If you start feeling weak or low energy, up it. He really shouldn't be training if he has no idea what good nutrition for his clients is.
  • nancyluckhurst3
    nancyluckhurst3 Posts: 122 Member
    Unless your personal trainer is also a nutritionist he/she probably knows about as much about nutrition as most Drs do. NOTHING. Drs get about one chapter in their entire schooling on nutrition. Most of them will admit they don't know **** about it. You are right you know your body. Do it your way and if you don't get the results you want then try it his way.
    I just hired a personal trainer. My goal isn't as much about losing weight as losing body fat. I told him that, but he's determine to see me eating no more than 1200 calories a day so that I can lose a pound a week. I told him no. When I lost weight a few years ago (175 lbs down to 140 lbs), dieting that much would halt my weight loss. I told him I know my body and it needs at least 1500 to be properly fueled for this. He told me he's not a nutritionist, but his recommendation stands. I eat good foods that are filling and cut out as much processed stuff as possible. I also have a predisposition for binge eating that I also need to contend with.
  • KHalseth
    KHalseth Posts: 104 Member
    1200 is based on lowest amount one should ever eat. It is also based on sedentary status and should include more if you are really working out and pushing yourself. But my nutritionist wants me at 1400. MFP is recommending 1200, so I try to work out every day so MFP adds more calories and feel good about 1400 to 1500. (My workouts are swiming and walking and not seriously intense workouts.) If you have a regular doctor's office you use, most have a nutritionist on staff and just have an appointment, and work out what is best for you with your fitness plans. They often do one time appointments for things like that.
  • nancyluckhurst3
    nancyluckhurst3 Posts: 122 Member
    AMEN
    If you struggle with binge eating, it's probably best NOT to eat 1200 calories. If you eat too few calories for what you're burning through exercise and other daily activity, your body will be crying out for more food, which can lead to binges. Since you have experience eating more calories and losing weight, and that works for you, I would ignore your personal trainer's advice.
  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
    Well, as he said, he's not a nutritionist. My cousin is in school to be a PT, in his nutrition class they recommend 1200 for women and 1800 for men regardless of stats. I wouldn't take the nutrition advice offered by a personal trainer unless they actually knew something about nutrition.

    Rigger

    Seriously? WHY? Regardless of stats? That seems ridiculous!

    It doesn't seem ridiculous, it IS ridiculous. The reason is because they are not studying nutrition, but they want to have some background in it, and generalizations are easier than specifics. Learning to be a PT is more about selling yourself than anything. Not to disparage personal trainers, certainly there are many who know their stuff, the vast majority simply deal in bro-science, my cousin being the latter.

    Rigger

    Rigger
  • heatherjanson
    heatherjanson Posts: 2 Member
    My goal is 1200 calories per day and I find that totally reasonable. However you need to make sure they are "good" 1200 calories and not total crap.

    My trainer likes me to be between 900-1500 calories per day. He doesn't want me to be the same every day as you need to shock your body with food just as much as exercise. On the days I don't work out, I shoot for 900-1000 and on my heaver activity days I'll eat 1200-1500.

    For reference I'm 194 lbs have about 60 pounds to loose.

    I want to reiterate....they need to be GOOD calories. If I am eating correctly I'm not hungry at 1000 calories. I'm not stuffed, but definitely not starving.
  • wmbrett
    wmbrett Posts: 31 Member
    MFP put me at 1200 calories when I was trying to lose ~2 lbs per week. For me, that wasn't enough food, and I liked having beer - so I worked out at least 800 calories / day, and and ended up netting about 1200 calories (2000 calories of food / beer), which was fine. But simply only eating 1200 calories would be tough. I only had to do that for a few months, since I got near my goal in about 5 months, and now just maintain at 2000 calories per day (average) but still work out daily to enjoy the extra calories for food or beer.
  • GamerLady
    GamerLady Posts: 359 Member
    I'd hire a new trainer, you don't want to start out like that with a PT.
  • bsuew
    bsuew Posts: 628 Member
    I agree, what works for one doesn't work for everyone! Do what you know works for you.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    There's a new part-time nutritionist at my gym and she's trying to drum up customers by handing out to everyone in group PT/circuit training classes a 14-page packet of "nutrition" and "healthy eating" tips focused almost exclusively on cutting calories and fat, mostly by substituting artificially sweetened, fat-free versions of foods that have little to no micronutrients or fiber (although there was a nod to the idea of getting protein and fiber in your breakfasts). The classes are part of a "lose-it-at-the-gym" program, so I guess I have to acquit her of assuming that everyone is and should be trying to lose weight (as opposed to bulking or having an ED). She also advised eating eating every three to four hours so that your metabolism won't slow down. She really did not make a good impression on me.

    It makes me wonder whether there is any field/profession on which you could reasonably rely for nutrition advice, since most medical doctors know nothing about nutrition, many PTs are apparently fonts of bad info, and even nutritionists can sound like they're just regurgitating the bordering-on-pro-ana articles I remember from teens' and women's magazines of decades past (I really don't read those kinds of magazines anymore, so I don't know if they've improved.)
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    I'd hire a new trainer, you don't want to start out like that with a PT.

    Dont pay him another dime.
  • FindingMyPerfection
    FindingMyPerfection Posts: 702 Member
    My goal is 1200 calories per day and I find that totally reasonable. However you need to make sure they are "good" 1200 calories and not total crap.

    My trainer likes me to be between 900-1500 calories per day. He doesn't want me to be the same every day as you need to shock your body with food just as much as exercise. On the days I don't work out, I shoot for 900-1000 and on my heaver activity days I'll eat 1200-1500.

    For reference I'm 194 lbs have about 60 pounds to loose.

    I want to reiterate....they need to be GOOD calories. If I am eating correctly I'm not hungry at 1000 calories. I'm not stuffed, but definitely not starving.
    Perfect example of bro science!
  • KristaIacobucci
    KristaIacobucci Posts: 4
    Thanks guys! I've been doing about 1300-1400 per day and not losing weight, but rather gaining muscle and losing body fat. My trainer told me yesterday that I should be around 1500-1600 so that my NET intake (calories eaten - calories burned) is about 1200. That makes more sense to me. Just for reference, I am 146 lbs and might entertain trying to get closer to 140, but would be happy if I lost love handles.
  • sargessexyone
    sargessexyone Posts: 494 Member
    Tell him you are NOT eating that low ... if that is unacceptable to him, Fire him and hire a new trainer. Worst.Advice.From.Trainer.EVER!


    Agree.
  • thoughtspresso
    thoughtspresso Posts: 14
    Actually, I think I need help and we have the opposite problem. I try to eat three square meals a day. But since it's all healthy food, mostly, I often get only up to 600 or 800 calories. I'm always on a calorie deficit!
  • KristaIacobucci
    KristaIacobucci Posts: 4
    What are you defining as "healthy food"? Make sure you're getting enough healthy fats, protein and high fiber foods.
  • ladymiseryali
    ladymiseryali Posts: 2,555 Member
    Actually, I think I need help and we have the opposite problem. I try to eat three square meals a day. But since it's all healthy food, mostly, I often get only up to 600 or 800 calories. I'm always on a calorie deficit!

    Add calorie denseness to your meals. Add butters and oils to your cooking. One tablespoon of butter is 100 calories. Two tablespoons of peanut butter is 190ish. OR eat two portions of these healthy foods if needed.
  • thoughtspresso
    thoughtspresso Posts: 14
    I eat rice every meal, being Asian. It's just that I avoid pork and deep fried things, and baked desserts. So my food is like a piece of fish/chicken/beef, a cup of veg, a piece of fruit, and rice or some other natural source of carb. The meat and veg are often cooked in vegetable oil, either lauric or olive, so I didn't think I was low on the "good" kind of fat. Sometimes I take a salad with sesame dressing and cuts of turkey or even black forest ham. Sometimes I eat oatmeal, sometimes I eat whole grain cereal. And I may avoid refined sugar, but I do use honey instead, and I eat a lot of fruit through the day. So I don't think I'm cutting down on sugar either. I also try to drink a cup of low fat milk every day.

    And I never skip breakfast. Never. I always have my biggest servings of carb and protein then.

    I'm not on some suffocating no-carb, no-fat, no-sugar diet. I'm just really trying to keep an honest-to-goodness nutrition plan. I removed things like donuts and cake and chips and icecream. And when I did, boom. Daily calorie deficit.

    I think I need to have more salad, like. Probably eat a salad in between breakfast-and-lunch, and another between lunch-and-dinner. Or something. I don't know. I don't know how to get some ++ healthy, nutritious, non-empty calories.

    Help?

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